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Best comedy movie factual errors of 2003

Factual error: During Jack's sliding down the rope scene, it is very noticeable that each one of the English soldiers fire their weapons more than once, which is impossible for that time, knowing that repetition weapons weren't invented until the mid 1800s. (00:20:00)

Factual error: At the very end of the film Bruce is reporting on a drive for blood donors, and Grace leads him over to the booth to give blood himself - he is even wearing a tourniquet. However, he is supporting himself on a walking stick - he is not fully recovered from the injuries he received when he was run over, which happened when he was hit by a moving car - injuries which left him clinically dead. There is absolutely no way that a person who has suffered life threatening injuries and has undergone the (inevitably) intensive drug therapies and surgical procedures involved while under treatment in hospital in the fairly recent past would be allowed to give blood. There is no way that the Red Cross (or the US equivalent) would want to encourage people who have recently been hospitalised to try to give blood. Not only would that be the height of irresponsibility, they would be wasting precious resources and staff time turning away people who would not be allowed to give blood.

Factual error: Helicopter rotor blades do not unfold by themselves and there is no way to unfold them from inside the helicopter. A trained mechanic with the right tools and equipment (including the proper ladder for the job) will take a minimum of twenty minutes to rig a four bladed rotor, and that's if (s)he's in a hurry. An airborne (i.e. falling) helicopter? Forget it. (00:07:40)

Factual error: In the very first scene in the film when the magazine covers are flashing up, the very first one has a headline which says "loose that belly". For a film whose title has the word "lose" in it, you'd think that they could spell this properly.

Factual error: This happens during the scene when Harry and Lloyd offer the little boy 5 dollars to get them slushies. This movie is set in the 80's but notice the $5 he gives him. It is the newer issued $5 that came out in the 90's.

Factual error: When Dave is at the Yankee game and he is telling Linda he wants to marry her from the field, it is impossible for his voice to ring throughout the whole stadium without a microphone (even though it echoes as if he were using one.). Similarly, he wouldn't have been able to hear Linda when she shouts "I'm over here." (01:26:30 - 01:27:45)

Factual error: Cadence arrives for the wedding on a 727. Closer examination of the aircraft's livery reveals it is a Kitty Hawk Airlines aircraft. This would be fine were Cadence air freight, as Kitty Hawk is a cargo airline. (00:28:40)

Factual error: When Renee Zellwegger arrives in New York, she exits her cab in front of the United Nations. The Canadian flag is visible. The movie is set in 1962, and the form of Canadian Flag in the shot was not adopted until 1965.

Factual error: In the scene after Chan and Wilson crash their car into Stonehenge they walk away and the view is of a field and a beautiful blue sky. In the sky you can see an airplane vapour trail up on the left hand side of the screen. There were no airliners in 1890. (00:58:50)

Factual error: In the scene where Tom and Sarah are in the French castle, there's a flag hanging in the background. This is the official flag of the Austrian province of Tyrol although the whole scene plays in France. (00:36:45)

Factual error: When Johnny and Lorna are in the sushi bar, Lorna says 'cheers' in Japanese to Johnny before drinking Japanese sake. (An English subtitle is displayed). Johnny, obviously not knowing what he is saying replies in Japanese, and an English subtitle is displayed saying 'may all of your daughters be born with three bottoms'. The actual translation for what he says is 'May all of your daughters be born with a small penis'. (Not that any normal person would notice) (00:36:15)

Factual error: In the scene where Ms. Ungermeyer returns to the hotel and takes the elevator upstairs, Sergei detains her in the elevator (to give Lizzie time to get into her room) while the classmates, including Kate, walk up the stairs. Since the rooms were on the first floor, Kate should have reached her and Lizzie's room before Ms. Ungermeyer; however, they enter the room at the same time.

Factual error: Many of the "western" products used in the film are in packaging from the present day, not from the time the film was set (1989-90). For example, Coca-Cola Light had a white label then, not the silver one in the film. Other examples are Jacobs Krönung coffee and Heinz ketchup, shown in recently redesigned packaging.

Factual error: When Syd throws the pistol to detonate the landmine, nobody in the nearby vicinity seems to be injured except one 'bad guy' despite the fact that many modern anti-personnel mines project shrapnel to a radius of 30 meters. (02:17:35)

Factual error: Throughout the movie, to make it more authentic, small impurities (specks) are seen floating in the water. Throughout most of it, with great attention to detail, the impurities are always seen to be moving with the flow of the water - back and forth. This always works except in the first scene with Marlin and Coral. The sun is shining through the water, and you can see the anemone waving in the water flow, but the impurities are all flowing in one direction, left to right, never changing according to the water movement.

Factual error: When Edward Bloom hits the winning shot in the basketball game, a three-point line is visible at his feet. The three-point line was not introduced until the 1970s in the newly formed ABA. It did not reach high school basketball gyms until the late 80s. (00:20:55)

Factual error: In the scene where Karen plays the album "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell, she cries to the title track "Both Sides Now". A shot of the CD player indicates that track 7 on the album is playing, but "Both Sides Now" is track 12 on the actual album. (01:29:00)

Factual error: When Marylin Rexroth's ex-husband dies, she inherits his money because he had not removed her from his will after divorcing her. Under California Probate Code § 6122(a)(1), the dissolution of a marriage automatically revokes any disposition or appointment of property made by the will to the former spouse.

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